Nevada County picayune., 1887-11-02
KICKING KNIGHTS.
Open War Declared On Powderly
 and His friends.
By the Fire Brands of Labor In Chicago.

By the Fire Brands of Labor In Chicago.
 CHICAGO ILL, Oct. 24 The dis senters from the action taken al the Minneapolis convention have declared open war with the execu- tive board of the Knights of La bor and have issued their dcclara. tion of independence. On return ing from the convention about thirty-fye delegates representing thirteen states stopped in Chica. go and determined to bring about a reorganization of the order. They elected a provisional com mittee of five members, of which Charles F Seib was made secre- tary. A long communication was drafted at Secretary Seib's office to-day and will be forwarded to- morrow in circular form to the Knights of Labor all over the country. The following is the communications:
 Headquarters Provisional com, l
 Charles F. Seib, Secretary, |
 1S0 East Washington Street,
 CHICAGO, Oct. 23, 1887.
 CIRCULAR NO. 1.
 To the Rank and File of the Order
 of the Knights of Labor:
 Indignant at the usurpation of power, the gross violation of the laws of our order by..those high in authority, disgusted with those whose loyalty to the present ring has been gained by the pick'ngs they receive as a reward for their services, incensed at.the fawning sycOphants, who crawl on their knees In slavish submission to the most autocratic and tyrannical clique that has ever controlled any labor organization.
 We, therefore affirm the motto of our order that when bad men combine, the good must associate, else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contempt. ble struggle" we assert the hour has come when, as honest men and women, we declare ourselves independent of those who have abused the confidence reposed iu them by our order.
 Our duty to the w0rkingmen and women demand that we al once re-organize the order of the Knights of Laber on basis which will secure the autonomy of the trades and the sovereignty of the districts in all pertaining to theil trade and local affairs; and to pre- vent it from being used, in the flu ture, as a machine to fill the cof fers of designing and interruptions men, as it is by those now in pow ! CT.
 We affirm the following to bt the reasons that have compelled this serious action on our part.
 First-The general office has be. come a luxurious haunt for men whose chief aim is to benefit self pecuniarily and otherwise. and is no longer the Jerusalem of the humble and honest knight
 Second-Thcre has been fOI more than a year-beginning pri or to the Richmond sessiOn--an understanding. which, for lack of better word, we will call a con. spiracy for the purpose of holding the salaried positions, elective and appOintive, in and under the gen, eral assembly.
 ] Third-This conspiracy has used the secrrt channels and the funds 1 of the order to manufacture Senti. ment for certain members and against others. Certain persons sometimes called general lectur. ers,' general organizers" "gen' eral instructors, and general many other things have been paid ex. travagant sums, both as wages and expenses, when their chief work was to fix" certain districts, The lobbyists of railroad corpora tions would turn green with envy did they know the superlative ex. cellence attained by these blood, suckers of the Knights of Labor.
 Fourth-Organizers' commissions have been refused to members who were known to disagree with the methods Of the ring, though the applications were indOrsed by the district assembly to which the